Its possible to change the interface name in Linux and reload without a reboot. It usually happens in Virtual environment where you add / remove interfaces frequently. You need to take note of the interfaces before you do any changes. Make sure that there are no active connections going to the NIC as you are going to restart the network service for the chagesz to take effect. Again you would not need a reboot.

At home Lab I came across this error while adding a previously used Windows disk to ESXi. It appears half way while adding the disk via "Add Storage Wizard". The error can be resolved by formatting the disk in DOS format using Parted utility inbuilt into Esxi. You need to SSH into the Esxi hosts for fixing.